Facebook parent Meta had a rough 2022.
The focus shows how Meta is responding to economic uncertainty as advertisers pull back spending.
Meta has weathered numerous privacy scandals and regulatory scrutiny but now the company is also facing business challenges.
Meta also downsized office space and reduced perks.
In addition,Apple made privacy changesthat made it tougher for advertisers to track data about potential customers.
All these challenges led to Meta’s decision to lay off workers, Zuckerberg said.
Meta’s stock jumped nearly 19%, to $182.50 per share, in after-hours trading.
The company saw itsfirst-ever quarterly revenue dropin July 2022.
Prioritizing AI and the Metaverse
Zuckerberg acknowledged 2022 was a “challenging year.”
The company introduced anew $1,500 virtual reality headsetin October.
But Meta still has to convince consumers to spend money on VR.
The company lost $13.7 billion on augmented reality and VR projects in 2022, known as Reality Labs.
AI could help enable more tools, including for creators, he said.
“I do expect that the space will move quickly,” Zuckerberg said.
“I think we’ll learn a lot about what works and what doesn’t.”
